


secret santa

by carissima



Series: santa baby [7]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Background Relationships, Christmas, F/M, Rule 63, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 20:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16899252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carissima/pseuds/carissima
Summary: The next gift is sitting in her stall when she arrives at the arena before the game. It’s a travel mug with pink, sparkly unicorns adorning it, and Auston stops in her tracks a few steps away and just stares at it.“Cute mug,” Mitch says, bumping her shoulder before he settles into his own stall and starts chatting to Patty next to him.Auston moves forward and picks it up gingerly, staring at it from different angles. It’s very, very pink.





	secret santa

**Author's Note:**

  * For [deepbutdazzlingdarkness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepbutdazzlingdarkness/gifts).



> for the 'gift' square of christmas bingo. 
> 
> thank you @adeleblaircassiedanser for the super quick, thorough beta!
> 
> the background relationships are zach/willy and patty/christina
> 
> hope you like it, molly!

Auston bounces on her heels and looks at Freddie, a sneaky grin on her face. “Hey, Fred,” she calls innocently. Freddie’s currently turning a luminous green candle over between his hands and he’s got a cute little frown on his face, like he doesn’t understand candles or whatever. He looks up, anyway, and puts the candle back on the shelf.

“What’s up?” he asks in his quiet way, coming towards her and doing his usual thing of trying to make himself look smaller, which is hilarious because Auston’s big, but she’s got nothing on Freddie. He’s at least half a head taller than her and his shoulders are broad enough to impress even her. When she’s out, she’s usually the one drawing all the attention because girls aren’t apparently meant to be over six foot tall with a muscular frame. But when she’s with Freddie, at least he takes some of the attention away from her. She appreciates it a lot, so she pastes on a softer smile when he reaches her and leans down just the tiniest bit like it’s a habit he’s incapable of correcting.

“What do you think?” she asks, brandishing a mustache comb. “Think Mo would like it?”

Freddie, to his credit, keeps his face utterly blank of expression. Auston’s in awe, honestly. She wishes she had as much chill as Freddie. She tries really hard, too, but he’s got Danish ice in his veins or whatever and she’s a just hot-headed girl from the desert. It’s in their blood, and she’s learned not to fight destiny or whatever.

“You can do better,” he says eventually, like he knows it's the exact right thing to say to her to get her competitive spirit fired up.

“Just warming up,” she says easily, even as she’s narrowing her gaze to look around the store to find something better than a dumb mustache comb. It’s one of those gift stores that has something for everyone, or so they advertise in the window, but it’s clearly meant to be separated by gender and Auston’s not about that dumb shit. Mitch is more likely to want a pink candle than she is and why is all the gardening shit in the ‘women’s’ section anyway? Gards is the only person on the team with even an actual, real plant in his house that needs watering and sunlight or whatever. Willy doesn’t even have a plastic plant in her apartment.

She wanders off to browse, leaving Freddie to his candles, and idly glances at trinkets and gadgets that don’t catch her attention at all. Except there’s a silver bookmark that makes her pause so she can run her finger over the smooth, cool metal. There’s a cluster of butterflies woven around the bookmark, coloured in pretty pastels, and it makes Auston think about her mom. Not that her mom’s all that into butterflies, or reading for that matter. But when Auston was nine, she’d thrown a dumb tantrum about her bedroom being covered in boring hockey crap. It was totally Brey’s fault, coming into Auston’s room and wrinkling her nose at the smell because Auston had just come home from practice, and then bragging about how Mom and Dad were going to repaint her room meadow-green for her birthday. Auston had looked around her own bedroom, not entirely sure when it had last been repainted, but it was currently a boring white, covered in hockey posters and trading cards or whatever else Auston had convinced her parents to buy.

Her mom had calmed her down by promising to redo her room however Auston wanted, and in a fit of pique, Auston had asked for butterflies. Butterflies didn’t like the cold or smell like locker rooms; butterflies were pretty and delicate, and everyone liked them.

Not everyone liked Auston when she was nine, taller than most of the boys in her class and faster than any of them in gym.

So when Auston turned ten, she had a butterfly-themed room. It lasted all of three weeks before Auston had put back up one of her favorite posters of Briere and that had been the beginning of the end of her butterfly bedroom.

“Does Mo like to read?” Freddie asks from behind her, making Auston jump before she flushes in embarrassment. She can feel her cheeks heating and she hastily shoves her hands into her pockets and turns away.

“Probably, with a robe and slippers in front of the fire,” she quips.

She glances up at Freddie and silently sighs when she sees him staring at the bookmark. “What?”

“It’s pretty uh, delicate,” Freddie tries.

Auston rolls her eyes. “You mean it’s pretty girly,” she corrects him.

“I guess,” Freddie says slowly, and now he’s looking at her and that’s worse, somehow. Because Freddie has this really intense way of watching her sometimes, like he’s staring into her soul or whatever. It used to make her feel really uncomfortable and off-balance, but she’s kind of used to it now.

“It’s girly, and I’m a girl,” Auston says dryly.

“No shit,” Freddie says, matching her tone and drawing a grin from her. “I know you’re a girl, Matts. But normally you get really weird about girly shit, that’s all.”

“Okay, first of all there’s no such thing as girly shit,” Auston says. “And even if there was, I’m not weird about it.”

Freddie doesn’t say anything but he picks up the bookmark and checks the price tag, probably just to annoy her. It’s totally working.

“Look, can you blame me?” Auston asks, grabbing the bookmark from him and putting it back on the shelf. She doesn’t even read books. What the hell would she do with a bookmark anyway? “I’ve spent most of my life around hockey players, trying to fit in with you losers. The Leafs are the first team I’ve played for with another girl in the locker room.”

Freddie suddenly looks very serious, and very annoyed. “If you wanna do girly shit, Matts, just fucking do it. No one on the team is going to care, and fuck them if they did.”

“Uh, thanks,” Auston says flatly and gives him a light shove. “I wasn’t looking for your approval, Fred. I’m just saying. I didn’t have a Mitch on my team when I was 12, none of the boys I played with liked having manicures or facials. I definitely didn’t have a Willy to hang out with. I didn’t even have a Mo to kick anyone’s ass if they teased me for doing girl things.”

She starts to walk through the store, not really looking at anything but she kind of wants to get some distance from that damn bookmark, and maybe get some air, because it’s suddenly really hot. “None of you guys have a clue what it’s like for me and Willy and that’s fine, whatever, but don’t start lecturing me on how to be a girl just because I liked something pretty and sparkly one time.”

“Hey,” Freddie reaches for her arm and gently pulls her to a stop, waiting for Auston to turn around and glare at him. He grins, easy, and Auston huffs out a sigh, unwilling to bend so quickly but, apparently, doing it anyway. “I’m sorry. I just thought that if you wanted the butterfly, you should have it, you know?”

Auston bites her bottom lip and cocks an eyebrow. Then she slowly leans into Freddie, watching his eyes go a little wider to her amusement, and then she grabs something from the shelf behind him and straightens up, brandishing her prize with a bright grin. “I’m getting this for Mo,” she says firmly.

Freddie takes one look at the brightly colored ugly mug with ‘Best Dad in the World’ plastered all over it and nods solemnly. “Perfect,” he agrees.

“Perfect,” Auston echoes and turns with only a slight flounce to take it to the till, paying extra for gift wrap because who wants to wrap their own gifts when they don’t have to?

“That’s my Secret Santa taken care of,” Auston beams at Freddie as they leave the store. “Wanna get yours now?”

“No,” Freddie says and steers her into a Starbucks. “Too much shopping already for one day. I need a reward.”

“You didn’t have to come,” Auston pouts moodily as she stares up at the drinks menu like she’s going to order anything other than salted caramel hot chocolate.

“You asked,” Freddie says simply and leans forward to smile at the barista. He orders his boring ass latte and then looks over his shoulder, quirking an eyebrow at her. She tells him what she wants, then stomps over to take a seat towards the back, away from prying eyes. It’s a necessary habit in Toronto. She sometimes forgets, when she goes back home to see her folks, that she doesn’t need to hide in Arizona. But they’re in Toronto, so to the back she goes.

“Okay, but you could have said no if you didn’t want to come,” Auston says after five minutes of stewing, waiting for Freddie to bring over their drinks.

“Who said I didn’t want to come?” Freddie asks, sitting down and bumping his knee against hers under the table in the process.

“Uh, you did?” Auston wraps her hands around her drink and lets them warm up. “When you were just bitching about doing too much shopping after we visited two whole stores.”

Freddie picks up his drink and grins at Auston over the top of the rim. “So I’m not a huge shopping fan,” he says with a shrug. “You asked and I wanted to come. So I came. We got the gift, I’m having a drink. What’s not to like?”

Auston stares at him. “You’re so weird,” she says, not for the first time, shaking her head in bemusement. “So, c’mon. Who did you get?”

“For Secret Santa?” Freddie asks, so she nods and takes a sip of her drink and tries not to sigh with happiness. “I believe it’s called Secret Santa for a reason, Miss Matthews. It’s a secret.”

Auston blinks. “You’re serious,” she realizes. “Oh my god, Fred. Don’t be such a loser. Who did you get?”

“Nope.”

Auston honestly has no choice. She balls up a napkin and throws it at his head.

He catches it. Fucking goalie.

*

Auston puts her gift wrapped mug in her kitchen, next to all the unopened mail that her mom constantly nags her about whenever she FaceTimes and catches sight of the pile, and she feels efficient as hell, considering the Christmas party isn’t for another two weeks.

And at their next practice, she scores four against Freddie, just because.

“Everything okay?” Mitch asks her after she’s whistled a third puck straight past Freddie’s mask and into the back of the net. He looks comically awed and cowed. It’s amazing.

“Super,” Auston says and gives him her best pageant smile. Considering she’s never been in a pageant, it probably looks more pained than natural, but Mitch finds it funny anyway, skating away with a laugh and a chirp for Freddie.

Freddie lifts his mask, ostensibly to take a drink, but he glances her way first and gives her the barest hint of a smirk.

Auston feels vindicated.

*

After practice, Auston is showered and almost ready to go, zipping up her bag when she sees something gold and glittery tucked in one of the inside pockets. Frowning, she reaches for it and pulls out a long, thin, rectangular box.

It’s some kind of travel fragrance. Auston sits down in her stall and opens the box, tipping the thin bottle out into the palm of her hand.

“What’s that?” Willy appears next to her, crunching on an apple and nodding towards the bottle.

“Shut your mouth when you chew,” Auston says, wrinkling her nose. “That’s so gross.”

Willy grins at her, but does at least keep her mouth shut.

“I think it’s a gift? Maybe?” Auston turns the bottle over in her hand a few times and then opens it up. “What does it smell like?”

Willy blinks as Auston shoves the bottle under her nose but she takes a deep breath gamely. “Fresh,” Willy shrugs, like that tells Auston anything at all.

“What the hell does fresh smell like?” Auston grumbles, staring at the bottle. She brings it up to her nose and breathes in just a little.

Apparently, fresh smells like grapefruit. And maybe vanilla.

She kind of likes it, so she puts it back in her bag and zips it closed.

“Hey, wanna go grab lunch?” Willy asks. She’s still eating her apple.

“Sure,” Auston says, distracted as she wonders who put the perfume in her bag. It had to be a teammate, and probably her Secret Santa. It’s a bit of a mindfuck, because she was definitely expecting some lame attempt at a joke gift but this was actually kind of nice. A bit generic maybe, but still. She’s never been bought perfume before.

Humming under her breath, she slings her bag over her shoulder and lets Willy lead the way to her car - Auston will pick hers up later or get a ride from Mitchy in the morning - only half listening as Willy rabbits on about whether opposites attract or if it’s better to date someone with shared interests, or something.

Willy pauses as they climb into her flashy red Volvo, Drake blasting through the speakers as soon as she turns over the engine.

“Sorry,” Willy says with a quick grin.

Auston settles into her seat and braces herself for an entire lunch date spent talking in circles about whether Willy should just suck it up and finally ask Zach out on a date. Zach definitely wants to, but won’t ask Willy out because she’s a teammate and he’s about as by-the-book as anyone on the team. Auston thinks Zach will cave at the first sign of seduction, but Willy insists that Zach’s just a really good dude who wouldn’t date someone like her because she’s convinced herself that Zach only dates intellectuals or something.

Auston doesn’t think that Zach cares about what books Willy has or hasn’t read, or that Willy didn’t go to college like Zach did.

As far as Auston’s concerned, they’re both idiots who need to pull their heads out of their asses. But whatever. Willy can buy her lunch. It’s the least she can do.

*

The next gift is sitting in her stall when she arrives at the arena before the game. It’s a travel mug with pink, sparkly unicorns adorning it, and Auston stops in her tracks a few steps away and just stares at it.

“Cute mug,” Mitch says, bumping her shoulder before he settles into his own stall and starts chatting to Patty next to him.

Auston moves forward and picks it up gingerly, staring at it from different angles. It’s very, very pink.

“Alright, who left this here?” Auston asks, turning around to wave the mug at her teammates. There’s a few blank expressions and a few grins but no one chirps her. Auston narrows her gaze at them, practically daring them to crack a joke, but most of them turn back to their stalls without giving her or the mug a second glance.

Freddie walks in just then and glances her way. He blinks at the mug for a moment and then he gives her a smile. Like, an approving one or something.

Auston huffs and spins back around, carefully placing the mug down in the corner so she can get dressed without knocking it over.

Every now and again, she looks at it, and by about the third or fourth glance, she catches herself smiling at how offensively pink and sparkly it is. It’s not her style at all, except that it kind of is. Auston’s all about flash. She can work with pink. She can certainly do sparkle. Unicorns are kind of lame and cliche, but whatever. She likes the stupid mug. She’s gonna keep it.

*

They have a rare day off and Auston mostly spends it lazing around at home until Mitch calls and they decide to go out with some of the team. Auston gets ready and pauses just as she’s about to tie her hair up in its usual ponytail.

It’s a long-formed habit to just put her hair up. It falls halfway down her back and it just gets in the way for hockey. One time she’d just hacked it all off out of irritation. She’d regretted it two minutes later and let it grow back. But her go-to hairstyle is to yank it back, though, even when they go out or they have an official Leafs evening event to go to. She’s all about taking risks with fashion- like tonight, she’s rocking a short red plaid skirt with black tights, her favorite AC/DC tee and a vintage leather jacket that Alex had sent her a few weeks ago, but her hair? Not so much.

Maybe she should try something else though. Even in photoshoots, they always put her hair up like it’s her signature style or something, instead of an easy fix for helmet hair.

After a few failed attempts to try something more interesting, she brushes the silky dark strands and tucks her hair behind her ears. Her reflection stares blankly back at her.

Shrugging, she runs her hand through her hair once more and heads out to her waiting Uber.

*

Turns out, her team doesn’t chirp her when she walks into the locker room every morning and before games, holding her pink unicorn mug, but they rip into her for a new hairstyle.

Assholes.

“It looks nice,” Zach tells her after Mitch and Naz have spent a whole five minutes laughing at her.

“Thanks,” Auston says and takes the drink he offers her. “Where’s Willy?”

“Oh, uh, I haven’t seen her yet,” Zach says, looking suddenly flustered. “Uh, is she here?”

“No idea,” Auston says and feels an uncharacteristic urge to help him out. It’s been almost a year. Chirping the two of them lost its appeal about six months ago and honestly, she’s tired of listening to Willy obsess over Zach, and watching Zach moon over Willy. Perhaps it’s her moral duty, as their linemate, to help them and therefore, save herself. Because fuck knows, they’re getting nowhere without her.

“Right,” Zach nods and stares down at his drink.

Jesus Christ. “Ask her out,” Auston says. She downs her drink while Zach splutters next to her. “Zach. Zachy. Hyms. Do me a favor. Do the team a favor. Ask her out. I promise she’ll say yes. I’d bet my next contract on it. But please, save the rest of us from the agony of Willy crying about how smart you are and how she’s thinking of taking college classes.” There’s absolutely zero chance of Willy taking college classes, but she’s brought it up once or twice.

“Oh,” Zach says, clearly dumbstruck.

“Good talk, buddy,” Auston says, spotting Willy’s blonde hair through the crowd, moving towards them. She resists the urge to give Zach a literal shove towards her, but she does turn her back, pretending to give them a bit of privacy.

Not that it’s necessary because Zach drags Willy away as soon as she reaches him.

“Been meddling?” Freddie asks, because he’s standing next to her, leaning against the bar and looking like a total snack.

“Just being a good teammate,” she says primly.

“Sure,” Freddie nods thoughtfully. “Well, they’re currently making out pretty aggressively over there, so I guess it worked.”

“What?” Auston spins around and sees Zach flailing his arms while Willy presses him against the wall, and yep. They’re making out. “Aww,” Auston says, totally non-ironically because Zach’s made the decision to put his hands on Willy’s waist and they look kind of sweet.

“Good job,” Freddie murmurs in her ear and Auston turns to beam up at him. “Hey,” Freddie says, keeping his voice low as he lifts his hand and gently lifts a strand of her hair with his finger. “What happened to the ponytail?”

“Just felt like a change, I guess,” Auston says, watching Freddie twirl her hair around his finger. Her breath hitches when Freddie’s fist closes around it and then he lets it fall back against her shoulder. “What, don’t you like it?”

Freddie tilts his head just a little. “Does it matter if I like it or not?”

“No,” Auston says firmly, except she’s vain and kind of shallow and she wants Freddie’s approval on all things. “You’re the only one not chirping me about it though. Except for Zach, and he’s kind of busy making out with our liney.”

She sees Freddie look over her shoulder and his lips twitch. “They probably need to get a room or they’re going to get arrested,” he says blandly. Auston desperately wants to turn around but she stays where she is. “Your hair looks nice, Auston,” Freddie tells her solemnly, then takes her by the shoulders and turns her around so she can see Willy trying to climb up Zach’s body.

“Oh my god,” Auston whispers in delight. She’s going to chirp them _forever_. “Best night out. Ever.”

*

Over the next few days, Auston finds blue nail polish in her kit bag - Maple Leaf blue, obviously, with a touch of sparkle, and a Christmas-scented candle in her stall. She never catches anyone doing it, but it’s definitely her Secret Santa and whoever it is, they’re going well over the $10 limit Naz set when he gave out everyone’s names.

She hoards all of it, though, and it’s not hard to notice that everything she’s being gifted is, well, girly.

Auston knows exactly who her Secret Santa is and she corners him after another practice, pulling him into one of the empty trainers rooms and closing the door firmly behind her.

“So my Secret Santa has been busy,” Auston begins, leaning back against the door and looking at Freddie, who looks mildly interested but that’s all. “They’ve definitely gone over the budget though.”

“Lucky you,” Freddie says. “I still need to buy mine.”

“Uh huh.” Auston’s not buying it. “Are you sure about that? Because my Secret Santa keeps buying me girly shit.”

“Oh?” Freddie says politely and Auston seriously thinks about throwing something at him. Except she has nothing handy to aim at him. Nothing heavy enough, anyway. And she probably shouldn’t throw heavy things at him, considering he’s her starting goalie and she should probably be looking after his physical health instead of trying to injure him.

“Yeah,” Auston drawls. Freddie’s giving it his best but she knows his fingerprints are all over this. “Which is so weird when we just had a conversation about girly shit.”

Freddie starts to smile. “I’m not your Secret Santa, Matts. Sorry.”

“Right.” Auston straightens and opens the door for Freddie to walk through. She’ll just have to catch him in the act then. It shouldn’t be too hard. She’ll just get to practice early tomorrow and wait. She can probably get up a little earlier than usual. Losing an hour of sleep just to catch Freddie sneaking around is definitely a worthwhile thing to do.

Probably.

*

She arrives early, yawning and taking long sips from her unicorn mug and finds Mitch putting a box in her stall.

“What are you doing?” Auston mumbles. She’s still half-asleep, possibly.

“Uh,” Mitch stutters and wrinkles his nose. “Um.”

Auston peers around him to see a mug in the box, with hot chocolate mix and marshmallows. “You’re my Secret Santa?” she asks, somewhat disappointed. She’d really thought it was Freddie.

Mitch shrugs and looks as guilty as sin.

“Well, I’ve caught you so you can just stop now,” Auston says and shoves the box in her bag.

“Sure,” Mitch nods and inches away, leaving her to sit in her stall, sip her coffee and resent being at the rink half an hour earlier than she absolutely needs to be just to catch fucking Mitch.

*

She’s half asleep on the bus when she sees Gards lean over and drop something into her unzipped bag.

“What the fuck?” she grunts and leans down to look inside. She pulls out a pastel tube of hand cream. “What are you doing?”

Gards leans back in his seat and grins at her. She can see Mo laughing next to him too, the traitor.

“I caught Mitch already,” Auston tells him. It’s still vaguely disappointing but whatever. “He’s my Secret Santa. I told him to stop already.”

“Nope,” Gards tells her. He looks fucking delighted, and Auston doesn’t trust him one little bit. “I’m just an elf. Mitch too.”

“Oh my god you’re all so lame,” Auston says, leaning over to shove his toque down over his eyes. Then she sits back and tries not to broadcast how touched she is that someone went to all this trouble for her.

It’s definitely Freddie.

*

“Hey Matts, happy holidays,” Patty says and hands her a wrapped gift.

Auston takes the present without really thinking about it. “What’s this?” she asks, squinting a little at it in the dim lighting. Patty’s throwing the Christmas party this year at his home, which Auston thinks is pretty brave of him considering their team are absolute animals, but then again Patty’s been in the NHL for a million years so he probably knows what he’s doing.

Probably.

“I’m your Secret Santa,” Patty says and throws an arm around her shoulders. “Happy holidays, idiot.”

Auston hears the words but they don’t really make any sense. She’s only had one drink since she arrived, and now she’s wondering what Christina put in the eggnog, because it didn’t taste that strong. “You’re my what?”

Patty shakes his head at her like she’s one of his kids, and at this point in time she might as well be; she’s here once a week for dinner and she’s got her own place setting at the table. “Open it,” he urges.

So Auston does, still confused, and pulls out a hoodie. She sees the Dunder Mifflin logo and she starts to laugh and immediately puts it on. “Patty, this is amazing.”

“I know you already have one but I wanted to get something you’d definitely like,” Patty tells her in that serious way he has, sometimes.

“I love it and I’m gonna wear it all night,” Auston assures him. “Hey Mitchy! Look who works for Dunder Mifflin!”

“Oh my god,” Mitch says as he joins them. “That’s amazing.”

“Pretty cool, huh,” Auston beams proudly.

“The coolest,” Mitch agrees and they both decide the gift deserves a toast, so they leave Patty to play host and lift a glass of eggnog each to Auston’s hoodie.

The eggnog is definitely spiked.

She finds Freddie three drinks later, and she’s already had a Christmas dance-off with Naz (she won, natch), spent a good ten minutes chirping a besotted Zach and Willy about their new romance, and given Mo his gift, which he loved, obviously, because she totally crushed Secret Santa for the third year in a row.

“Hey,” Auston says, slipping her arm around Freddie’s waist and smiling happily at him. “So Patty was my Secret Santa.”

Freddie raises an eyebrow. “Cool hoodie,” he says as he puts his arm around her shoulders and gives her a gentle squeeze.

“I know it was you, dumbass,” Auston says because she’s had three drinks and her brain-to-mouth filter is non-existent right now. “Sending Mitchy and Gards and whoever to sneak gifts into my bag and stuff.”

Freddie laughs softly. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah, asshole,” Auston says. “I told you I don’t need girly shit. I can buy it myself if I wanted to.”

Freddie sighs. “I know, Matts. But you liked them, right?”

“I did,” Auston admits, albeit reluctantly. Her unicorn mug is the fucking bomb and she’s gonna paint her nails sparkly Maple Leaf blue as soon as they’ve played their last game before the Christmas break. “How did you even know what to get me?”

Freddie rolls his eyes. “You’re hardly an enigma,” he says and she feels vaguely affronted, like she’s been deeply insulted.

“Whatever,” she says, and without thinking too much about it, she reaches up to kiss his cheek. “Thanks, Fred.”

“You’re welcome, Matts,” he tells her, the faintest sign of a flush on his pale skin. Auston stares at him for a moment before she shakes herself out of it, pats him on the arm and very carefully walks away, not stumbling once even though she feels weirdly and totally off-balance.

*

Freddie opens his door and Auston pushes past him with barely a hello because Jesus, it’s cold outside, even for Toronto.

“Come in,” Freddie says dryly as he closes the door.

“You don’t have company, right?” Auston pauses, her coat halfway off as she looks over her shoulder towards him. She sees him shake his head and she carries on, kicking off her boots for good measure. She’s cold and Freddie’s home is deliciously warm and she follows the heat all the way into the kitchen.

“So what brings you here on Christmas Eve?” Freddie asks, his hip leaning against the doorway, his arms folded and looking super soft in his joggers and Leafs hoodie.

“I painted my nails,” she says, straightening her arms and wiggling her fingers in front of him. Sparkly Maple Leaf blue.

Freddie seems pleased.

“I also used the face mask and hand cream,” she tells him. She’s made good use of their first off-day of the holidays.

“You look good,” Freddie tells her with no change to the cadence of his voice whatsoever. “But you always look good, Matts.”

Auston smirks and lifts her hand to run it over her ponytail. With steady hands, she pulls her hoodie off - a Leafs one, like Freddie’s - and lets it fall to the floor, leaving her in just her bralette and sweats. It’s a pretty bralette, a deep violet color, and her Christmas gift to herself this year. Auston’s never really been self-conscious about the fact that she’s kind of flat-chested, as an athlete it’s kind of great actually, and she feels really pretty in it. “I thought about all the stuff you bought me and figured I’d treat myself to something girly too,” she tells him.

Freddie nods and she can see his throat working, like he’s swallowing, but he’s not saying anything.

“Normally I’m all about sports bras and whatever, but every now and again it’s nice to wear something like this,” she continues.

“Yeah?” Freddie says gruffly and Auston grins because she knew he wasn’t unaffected, the asshole. “Good. I uh, you look good in sports bras too, Matts.”

She laughs softly. “Yeah, I know.” Then she wriggles out of her sweats to show him her matching panties.

Freddie’s staring.

“What do you think?” Auston asks him.

“I think,” Freddie says hoarsely, “that if you want us to be buddies, then you should probably get dressed and maybe give me a little time.”

Auston laughs, delighted. Freddie’s flushing all the way down to the neckline of his hoodie and she wants to see how far it goes down. “Well,” she murmurs and steps closer. “Okay. But what if I want to be buddies who fuck?”

Freddie exhales slowly. “Yeah,” he says softly. “I can do that.”

And then he kisses her, a hand cupping her cheek, his other hand gathering her closer so she can feel exactly how firm and solid his body is against hers. He kisses with intent, like he’s trying to learn everything about her body in the fastest way possible, and Auston likes it so much. She tries to get a little closer, squeaking when he somehow manages to lift her like she weighs eighty pounds instead of almost three times that much, and she wraps her legs around his waist more for balance than a practiced move.

She’s literally never been picked up by a guy before. She could have bench-pressed most of the guys she’s been with before. But Freddie makes her feel smaller than she is, and she might need a second to figure out if she likes that or not. He’s still kissing her though, hoisting her up onto the kitchen counter, and she definitely likes that he’s strong. She’s hardly a delicate flower and she has no desire to feel like one or worse, be treated like one. She’s proud as fuck of her body.

She is a little breathless though, just from a few kisses, and Auston doesn’t know how to deal with that so she focuses on the feel of Freddie’s hands on her thighs, the way his fingertips press into her skin just hard enough, the feel of his thumbs as they brush slow circles against her skin.

“You’re a tease,” Auston mutters against his lips, and feels him huff out a laugh before he trails kisses down her throat.

“Maybe,” he says and finally moves his hands to her hips, tugging gently on her panties and silently urging her to lift up so he can pull them slowly down her long legs and leave them to fall to the floor. “Did you expect anything else?”

Auston doesn’t really know what she expected, other than that Freddie would be amazing at this, and she’s glad she’s not wrong. She suspects that being teased by Freddie might actually ruin her, and she’s equally terrified and exhilarated.

“Touch me,” she groans, her hips shifting helplessly in anticipation.

“Bossy,” Freddie chides and then sinks to his goddamn knees, hooks her legs over his broad, beautiful shoulders and puts his mouth on her.

Auston’s eyes roll back and she shoves her hand over her mouth to muffle her screams.

*

Auston tries to stand up, her legs embarrassingly shaky, and she grabs Freddie’s arm for balance, glaring at him when he smirks smugly at her.

“Shut up,” she grumbles. How was she supposed to guess that he’d be that fucking good at eating her out? Like, multiple orgasms good. And now he’s tenting in his sweats and making her mouth water again and she’s kind of mad. Mad enough to want to ride him until he’s a crying mess between her thighs. He’s laid down a gauntlet and she wants to throw one right back in his face.

“We need a condom,” she tells him. “And a bed, probably.”

“Okay,” Freddie says easily and starts to guide her out of the kitchen and upstairs. He pauses outside what she assumes is his bedroom, and turns to look at her. His face is in shadow and he looks serious, like he does before a game.

“Hi,” she says, tilting her lips into an easy smile.

Freddie gently brushes his thumb over her lips and leans in to kiss her, slow and thorough, enough to weaken her knees again, goddammit.

“Before we do this,” he says, like he doesn’t already have the taste of Auston in his mouth. “Just, if we’re buddies who have sex, then maybe we’re buddies who don’t have sex with anyone else.”

“Oh,” Auston says blankly.

Freddie’s face shutters and she quickly grabs at his shoulders and shakes her head. “No wait, I was just surprised. Like, we’re friends, Fred. Really good friends. Do you really think I just showed up here tonight looking to, what, scratch an itch or something? I wouldn’t do that.”

“Okay,” Freddie murmurs and smiles down at her.

“I’m not saying we have to move in together and set a date for our wedding or anything,” Auston says. “But I don’t know. We could see where this goes.”

“Yeah,” Freddie says and his smile widens.

“Like, it could go into your bedroom and we could have some seriously great sex,” Auston says innocently.

“Sure,” Freddie says solemnly and pushes the door open.

*

Auston wakes up on Christmas morning to find Freddie in his kitchen, a pair of low-slung sweats clinging to his hips, shirtless and brewing coffee.

“Hi,” she murmurs, taking the cup he offers her and sighing as she takes a sip.

“Hi,” he echoes, leaning in for a quick kiss before he reaches behind her and hands her a long, thin rectangular present. “Merry Christmas.”

Still half asleep, Auston frowns at the gift. “I didn’t get you anything,” she protests. “Although, I guess the lingerie you ruined last night was kind of a present.”

Freddie grins at her. “Open it.”

It’s the butterfly bookmark. Auston doesn’t cry, but it’s a close thing.

Asshole.


End file.
